Those Who Run
by Reina Ariadne
Summary: Sakura had always been running, until she managed to catch up.


Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

I'm supposed to be working on another fic right now, but I'm having a bit of writer's block so... I decided to write a one-shot about a character I'm not super fond of from Naruto. Whoops. I feel like Sakura's development was underplayed throughout the series to make way for Naruto's, even though she's technically supposed to be one of the next Legendary Sannin after Tsunade. So here's my take on how some of the other characters in the series might have viewed her growth.

Enjoy!

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Ino has always known that Sakura was a timid girl. Her unusual hair - cherry blossom pink, just like her name - was a favourite target of hair-pulling among the boys in their class, and the girl's unfortunately wide forehead only made the bullying worse.

Back then, Sakura always just ran from the bullies. Ino always found her in some corner or another of the school, sobbing her eyes out with tears and snot all over her face. Compared to Ino, who was the prettiest, most popular girl in school, she barely registered on Ino's social scale. The twinge of pity she felt for her pink-haired classmate however led her to guide the other girl to a washroom to clean herself up. She would never become as cool as Ino was, but she could at least do Sakura the kind favour of declaring the pink-haired girl her follower. After that, Sakura still ran from the bullies, but now she ran to Ino's side where she would rely on the other's help to counter the bullies together. Ino's father was Konoha's chief interrogator; she learned how to recognise weakness at an early age, and her newest follower was nothing if not weak.

She should have recognised the signs for what they were the very first time Sakura had told her "back off, I liked Sasuke-kun _first _."

After becoming genin, she saw little of Sakura as they trained and went on missions almost exclusively with their own teams. She had heard of Team 7's very first D-rank turned A-rank mission through Inoichi, of course, but didn't quite understand what her father had meant when he mused, "I wonder how much they'll change now that they've had their first _real _taste of danger," casting a quick look towards his daughter. Ino had shrugged then; the only useful thing she got out of the story was that Sasuke-kun had awakened his Sharingan during the mission, and wouldn't that have been cool to witness? Genin teams were typically only assigned C and D-rank missions anyway, and those were handled fairly easily with her team.

Her father's words came to mind again when, months later, she saw Sakura for the first time in a long while as they faced off in the chunin exams. Her pink-haired ex-follower _had _changed, and it wasn't just physically. Sakura's short, jagged locks strangely suited the fierce look on her face as she met Ino's gaze with an intensity she had never felt from the other girl before, and Ino wondered how the Forest of Death could change a single person so much when it hadn't for her. But it was only when Ino threw a fistful of her hair at Sakura in a fit of pique, and the other girl merely glared back, bold declaration in her eyes, that Ino began to wonder when exactly had Sakura stopped running, and started fighting instead.

Iruka loved all his students, and remembered the names of every single one who passed through his classroom. And like all teachers, he was much more aware of classroom politics than his students thought he was. He knew of Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura's fierce rivalry over Uchiha Sasuke, and of their close friendship before the Uchiha came between them. He saw Sakura's misery at the loss of her best friend in the way she sparred; against Ino, she always hesitated, seeming to be fighting the urge to defer to the more popular girl. Against everyone, she pulled her punches, probably because of some adolescent need to look demure and ladylike in front her crush. Iruka knew she could do much better. Despite average scores in ninjustsu and taijustsu, her intellect was far above her classmates' (almost on par with Nara Shikamaru) and her talent in genjutsu was apparent even at her age.

He had hoped that being assigned to a genin team under a jounin sensei would finally encourage her to blossom, but when he found out who else was on her team - ouch. Naruto, who was practically a bottomless pit of chakra and would likely be able to master high-level ninjutsu quickly, and Sasuke, an Uchiha with natural talent in all ninja skills and who would only become exponentially stronger once he'd awakened his Sharingan - both were powerhouses in their own right, and with no special family jutsu or specialised skill to speak of, even he could see that Sakura looked painfully average beside the two. Had Hokage-sama thought this arrangement through properly?

Iruka sighed, saddened with the knowledge that there wasn't much he could really do for her. She'll stop holding back her strength once her "Sasuke fangirl" phase passes (at least, he hopes it does, Sasuke being on her team and all), and perhaps she'll hone her genjutsu enough so that it won't become overshadowed by the Sharingan's abilities. He fervently prayed that she wouldn't have to spend the rest of her genin and chunin career chasing after the two boys, but never catching up.

Three years later, Iruka watched from the branches of a distant tree as Sakura, under the proud eye of the fifth Hokage, punched a literal crater into the ground with a single first. He winced as the resulting tremor violently shook even the tree he was standing on - he knew she had pulled her punches in the Academy, but kami help him, he hadn't expected that she'd become a freaking _taijutsu monster _once she stopped - before letting the smile that was threatening to break out show on his face. He hoped that both Naruto and Sasuke, when they eventually return, would be surprised to find that the girl who always ran one step behind them had finally caught up.

If he was forced to name the student he was most proud of, Kakashi would have to say that it was Sakura. Naruto was, well, _Naruto _, and as his teacher Kakashi was just as proud of him, if not prouder, as the rest of the village was. Sakura on the other hand deserved both his pride and his respect, he thinks. He had to admit that he hadn't thought much of her initially, 6 years ago _(had it only been 6 years?) _when he met his genin Team 7 for the first time. Between the grudge-filled Uchiha and the kyuubi's jinchuuriki on his team, she was just so _normal _that he wondered how much he could actually teach her while his hands were already full with the other two. That gap only seemed to grow and become more apparent with each passing mission. Still, he had tried his best to treat his three students as equally as he could. (On his darker nights, he sometimes wondered if, maybe, had he been a better teacher and spent more time with Sasuke he could have spared his students from so much unnecessary pain).

After Sasuke left the village, he relinquished Sakura's training to Tsunade and Naruto to Jiraiya. No good would come out of him being their teacher any longer. He'd failed Sasuke just like he failed Obito, and all he could do for them now was to pray for a marginally better outcome for them than his old team.

But now, faced with the strong backs of his students as they stared down Madara, he no longer saw himself, Rin and Obito in them. He allowed himself the tiniest flare of pride for being their teacher as he finally acknowledged the fact: they would never be his old team, because they were stronger, and they were _better._

Against all odds, Team 7 was back together.

And he thought that Sakura's pink hair stood out all the more brilliantly standing between the luminescent purple armour of Sasuke's susanoo and Naruto in his glowing kyuubi cloak. As his former students leapt forwards into battle together, Kakashi's thoughts were not on the outcome of Naruto and Sasuke's eventual inevitable battle (although he suspects he already knows how it will end), but instead on how Sakura would someday be known alongside the other two as one of the greatest shinobi in Konoha's history, with all the certainty that came with the knowledge that greatness was something which followed only the legendary -

And those who run with them.

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...Also all of that may just have been an excuse for the last line. Heh. XD


End file.
